Dying girl 'ignored' by Birmingham medics - inquest told

Apr 21 2009 by Andy Richards, Birmingham Mail

A TEENAGE girl who died in agonising pain a week after being admitted to hospital was accused of being a “drama queen” by medical staff, an inquest was told.

Sian Jones, aged 15, was admitted to a children’s ward at Birmingham’s Heartlands Hospital with stomach pains on August 6, 2007.

The teenager, from Stirchley. died of perienteritis – a serious infection that inflames the lining of the stomach and intestines – on August 13. Her sister Sarah Jones, aged 22, claimed: “The staff told my father on August 9 that there was nothing physically wrong with her and that it was all psychological, that she was a drama queen.”

Sian’s family claimed she was in “agonising pain”, unable to walk and was being fed and wheeled around in a chair by family members.

They alleged that they were told by medical staff that the pain from the undiagnosed perienteritis was brought on by problems at home.

Sian’s father Andrew had been fighting leukaemia for 18 months when his daughter was admitted to hospital, and has since died from the illness.

The inquest heard that when Sian was admitted doctors suspected that she was suffering from appendicitis.

They removed her appendix on August 7, but her pain grew steadily worse.

She was sent for scans and given pain relief, but doctors missed a number of tell-tale signs of her deteriorating condition, the inquest was told.